Lesson Plan
Albert Shanker Institute

Strategizing for Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and A. Philip Randolph developed different views on how to advance civil rights for African Americans. Class members research these famous figures and their strategies before developing...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Lost Boys of Sudan

For Teachers 7th Standards
Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka Tribe (“Loss of Culturally Vital Cattle Leaves Dinka Tribe Adrift in Refugee Camps” Excerpt 1)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Paraphrasing and Evaluating Sources: Pages 112–116 of The Big Thirst

For Teachers 7th Standards
Agriculture and water—it's a fine balance. So how exactly do industry and agriculture currently manage water? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading excerpts from Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst and adding notes to their...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Interaction: Categories of Water Management in The Big Thirst

For Teachers 7th Standards
It's puzzle time! Pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to discuss the various uses of water, including personal, agricultural, and industrial uses. They also conduct a close reading of The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman and answer...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge About the Hero’s Journey, Part 2: Acts 2 and 3 Plus Focusing on Key Vocabulary in “The Hero’s Journey”

For Teachers 6th Standards
It's all in the details. Scholars read acts two and three of The Hero's Journey and collect important details from the text. They share their notes with their peers and listen for key words from the story. They then turn their attention...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Identifying Theme: Connecting Passages from Esperanza Rising to Human Rights

For Teachers 5th Standards
Even fictional characters have rights. Scholars read selected passages from Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising and consider which of the five categories from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the text relates to. They glue each...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Summarizing Informational Text: “Hawaii’s Endangered Happy Face Spider”

For Teachers 5th Standards
Put on a happy face. Using an interesting resource, pupils read an informational text about Hawaii's endangered Happy Face Spider. Next, they participate in a jigsaw discussion to find the gist of the article. 
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Expert Research Groups: How the Traffic Signal and Airplane Met Society’s Needs, Part 3

For Teachers 5th Standards
Pupils work in expert research groups, reading an informational article about an invention and completing a note-catcher worksheet. Afterward, scholars work in triads to answer questions based on the text.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Identifying Author’s Opinion and Evidence: The Value of Sports in People’s Lives, Part I

For Teachers 5th Standards
Just like instant replay, it's time to take a closer look! Pupils work together to add ideas to a Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart. They then put their knowledge to the test as they read an informational article about the...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Incredible Bridges: “Translation for Mamá” by Richard Blanco

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Who or what do you miss? That's the question that launches an activity that asks writers to craft a paragraph filled with sensory details that shows how they feel. Next, they listen to Richard Blanco reading his poem, "Translation for...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird: Symbolism

For Teachers 8th - 9th Standards
Would a bluebird be as scary as a vulture? Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is the central text in a lesson about symbolism. After a close reading of the poem, learners consider what the raven might represent to the narrator. They then...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Slay the Slang! Summarizing Informational Texts

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
Middle schoolers get hip to the jive with a lesson about slang. They closely examine examples of slang and use context clues to infer the meaning of the terms. Groups read and summarize an article about a teacher who created a Gen Z...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Note-Taking and Organizational Strategies

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore note taking. In this study skills and nonfiction comprehension lesson, students complete a two column main idea chart while reading a nonfiction passage.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

SWOOP Reading

For Teachers 1st
First graders read fluently. In this phonics lesson students practice reading strategies for fluency. They write a response in their journal about the book read in class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Literacy in Content Areas: Think Aloud

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders examine the "think aloud" reading strategy. For this reading strategies lesson, 5th graders apply the think aloud strategy to solving word problems in math.

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